The Sessions Sessions

Not only are the Republicans walking right into the jet engine on Sotomayor, they're doing it en masse. If today's opening statements are anything to go by, they're lining up to execute themselves.

Sessions, a former prosecutor and attorney general in his home state, challenged the attribute of empathy cited by President Obama in nominating Sotomayor.

"Call it empathy, call it prejudice, call it sympathy -- whatever it is, it is not law," Sessions said.

In particular, Sessions quoted Sotomayor from past speeches in which she said a wise Latina woman should be able to reach a better ruling than a white man, saying it showed an inherent bias.

"I want to be clear: I will not vote for and no senator should vote for an individual nominated by any president who is not fully committed to fairness and impartiality toward every person who appears before them," Sessions said.

So, Jeff is indeed going down the racist asshole route basically accusing the first Latina Supreme Court nominee of being prejudiced against white men. Jeff's buddies on Team Rocket there are follwing his lead.

Arizona GOP Sen. Jon Kyl said that while Sotomayor's "background creates a prima facie case for confirmation," many of her past statements regarding the role of race and gender in judicial decision-making have raised serious questions about her suitability for the high court.

Every person should have emphathy, Kyl also argued, but it is problematic when empathy becomes the key ingredient in reaching decisions.

Kyl also cited a comment once made by Sotomayor that U.S. courts need to take international law into account in certain instances or risk losing influence in the world.

"That's not a judge's concern," Kyl said.

So when Sessions isn't going for the racism, Kyl is accusing her of being an overly emotional woman unable to be impartial. Oh lord, I warned of this train wreck coming for months now, and they're doing it anyway.

Ugly stuff here. There's no way they come out of this looking like anything other than a bunch of hateful old white men.